Rio Hillen (born 5 March 2003) is a Dutch professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for club

De Graafschap Vereniging Betaald Voetbal De Graafschap, simply known as De Graafschap () is a professional association football club based in Doetinchem, Netherlands. The team competes in the , the second level of the Dutch football league system. Founded o ...

Club career

Early years

Hillen started playing football in the youth teams of AFC. In 2014 he transitioned to the youth academy of AZ. On 11 June 2019, he furthered his development by joining

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

. Following his move to Ajax, he maintained his presence in the U17 squad, notching two goals in 17 games. In the subsequent season, alongside appearances for U18 and U19, he made his debut for

Jong Ajax Jong Ajax (; ), also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2, is a Dutch association football team. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. Jong Ajax is the only reserve team to have won a title in Dutch professional foot ...

in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

as a substitute in stoppage time for Terrence Douglas during a 5–1 victory over

MVV MVV may refer to: Groups, organizations, companies *Malaysia Vision Valley (MVV), an economic corridor, see Malaysian National Projects * (MVV GmbH; ), German city works of Mannheim * Militaire Voetbal Vereniging (M. V. V.), a military soccer team ...

. Subsequently, Hillen began to feature more regularly in the reserve team.

De Graafschap

On 22 June 2022, Hillen signed a two-year contract with

. He made his debut for the club on 7 August, the first matchday of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, starting in a 2–1 loss to

PEC Zwolle Prins Hendrik Ende Desespereert Nimmer Combinatie Zwolle, commonly known as PEC Zwolle, is a Dutch professional football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football. They have played in the Ered ...

. On 30 January 2023, he scored his first professional goal, equalising in the 58th minute of a 1–1 draw against Jong Utrecht. He remained a starter for the remainder of the season, scoring twice in 39 appearances. In October 2023, Hillen faced a setback with a knee injury during an away game against Jong AZ. The injury required surgery and kept him out of action for several months.

International career

Born in the Netherlands, Hillen is of Brazilian descent through his mother. He is a youth international for the Netherlands.

Career statistics

References

External links

*
OnsOranje U15 Profile

OnsOranje U17 Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hillen, Rio 2003 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Dutch people of Brazilian descent Men's association football central defenders Eerste Divisie players Amsterdamsche FC players AZ Alkmaar players Jong Ajax players De Graafschap players 21st-century Dutch sportsmen